My wife and I are taking a trip to the Finger Lakes / Niagara Falls area this Sept. We are wondering if anyone has suggestions on Wineries to visit or to stay away from (send those private mail if you wish). We plan to go to one or two Ontario Wineries too to pick up some Ice Wine, which I hear they make very well up there, so any suggestions on Ontario wineries near Niagara would be helpful too.
Oh, and we are on a budget...

the closest wineries to the falls are ch. des charmes and coyote's run; and they are night and day different; but good in their own ways. however, you shouldn't be in the area without spending some time in niagara on the lake - voted the prettiest town in canada. it is home to the shaw festival - so if you like professional theatre, this too is a must do. i recommend you see 'the heiress'. if you do get to notl, you will pass inniskillin winery; which i recommend highly. for geeks they often have stuff open that isn't on the menu. for food on a budget, try stone road grill.

Last we we had our first NiagaraCOOL and toured 3 wineries on the Niagara Ontario region. Here is alink to PaulB's notes from that visit.
http://www.wineloverspage.com/user_subm ... 58036.htmlI agree with creightond and highly recommend Chateau Des Charmes, in addition to Stratus (a bit more pricey, but..), both of which we visited for NiagaraCOOL '05. I also highly recommend Flat Rock, which is located in Jordan, about a 20 minute drive from Ch. des Charmes. Inniskillen makes some excellent ice wines. Also, while on the USA side of the border, you have to get some true "Buffalo" chicken wings.

The Duffs in Orchard Park or Tonawanda?
In the Finger Lakes there is a concentration of great wineries on SE Seneca Lake: Atwater, Chateau LaFayette Reneau, Wagner, Red Newt, Lamoreaux Landing, Standing Stone (say hi to Jim, very knowledgable on Finger Lake wines and a great guy) and Silver Springs.
Very close to the Falls on the American side is Warm Lake Estates- they make a "World Class Pinot Noir"

You can spend a whole lot of time driving from A to B in the Finger Lakes. Seneca alone is about 40 miles long, so going from one side to the other can take quite awhile. They keep talking about a bridge from the east side of Cayuga clear across to Bristol on Canandaigua, but the damn environmentalists won't let 'em. That said, here's a very personal list of wineries from which to pick and choose on each of the lakes.

Cayuga
Treleaven on the east side for their award - winning Riesling. On the west side I like Hosmer, they keep winning Governer's Cups, and Goose Watch for their their unusual varietals. If you do get to the west side stop in and say hello. We're in the phone book.

Seneca
The ones Ed mentioned on the east side. Over on the west, try Hickory Hollow for their Highland Cellars wines. They might have rooms for rent now too. I know they were planning to build.

Keuka
On the east side there are McGregor (Muscat Ottonel), Ravines for Riesling, and Keuka Springs. On the west side, everyone must make the pilgrimage at least once in a lifetime to Frank's (Vinfera Wine Cellars). If you want to see McMansion architecture stop in at Heron Hill (they make some nice wines too).

Canandaigua
Arbor Hill on the west side for Traminette and Vergennes, if any of the latter is left. I picked up a case recently ($8 /bottle less case discount) and they cried to see it go out the door.

The advice you've gotten on wineries has been good, but I thought I'd add a couple of comments given that you mentioned ice wine. Earlier this month one of my brothers and I made a trip over to the east side of Seneca to go to Dano's Heuriger (the food was good, the desserts outstanding - rhubarb apple strudel, mmmm). We stopped at a few wineries along the way. The standout wine of the day was Standing Stone's Vidal Ice 2004, which had just the right amount of acidity to balance the sweetness in a way that made it very lively. It's a freezer wine, not a real icewine, and the winery is upfront about this. Well worth trying.

I also liked the Silver Thread 2005 Riesling. I haven't really liked their whites in the past, but this takes a good step towards converting me. Silver Thread is also on the east side of Seneca, not far from Standing Stone.

We had heard good things about the Standing Stones Vidal Ice too. However on our trip last May we found out that they were closed on Wednesdays!!! So beware. We did go next store and picked up Wagner's Vidal Ice which we had before, and enjoyed it.